Another favorite of my summer days is my Summer Acting Intensive for Teens. This year, it wasn't only teens as a fair amount of adults were in the mix at the Chicago First Church of the Nazarene, affectionately known as C1.

For nine months of the year, the C1 actors present a new 25-ish page script every Sunday. Yes, that's every Sunday! As you can imagine, that's a lot. I was thrilled to help them implement a more cohesive preparation structure along with some new acting skills and techniques so they can keep hitting it out of the park week after week.

Now that I'm back, the
Drop-In Acting Class is in full swing for the month of July. Join us on Wednesday nights!

Acting class is the actor's laboratory and the Drop-In Acting Class at Art & Soul Acting is the place to play, explore, express and nail down your technique so that your next audition rocks it out of the park.

Class is in session throughout July, but please note no class on August 2 as I will be traveling. Class will resume on August 9.

Class Structure

Each class begins with a brief warm-up so students can approach their work centered and focused. Actors then work on their material of choice in an individual work slot.

Work Slot OptionsActors may choose to work on any of the following for stage or film:

If you've ever cringed because you've been asked about a play that you think you should have read, then the Book Club for Actors is your remedy.

The 38th Book Club for Actors will focus on the plays of:

David Ives

Remaining Reading Weeks

2 weeks...July 24th

5 weeks...August 12th

When

The Book Club for Actors is offered twice. Please choose one of two meetings:

Monday, July 24, 7-9 - East Village

OR

Saturday, August 12, 3-5 - East Village

What

Read plays from the following selection of David Ives' work:

Venus in Fur *

All in the Timing: Six One-Act Comedies

The Liar

The Heir Apparent

So all participants are on the same page with at least one play, please be sure to read the play marked with an asterisk (*). And t
o ensure a robust conversation, participants are asked to read at least 3-4 plays.

Be ready to share what you have discovered about this amazing playwright so we can all learn and grow together!

...For some actors, these gremlins show up as a Fear of Dreaming. In order to move forward, one must first be able to imagine their future. The cerebral cortex loves to create images in the mind's eye and ultimately these visualizations form a map of future possibilities, a clear idea of a desire that that has the potential to be real in the future.

...In Part 3 of this series we look at a particularly destructive gremlin called the Victim Identification gremlin. Actors dealing with this gremlin internally identify with various factors - real or perceived - that keep them being a victim who is stuck...